


In the Company of the Dark

by cthonus



Series: A Wounded Symmetry [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-07
Updated: 2012-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-29 03:09:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/315156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cthonus/pseuds/cthonus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set two years after "The Last Time Lord"</p><p>Jack returns to the Hub expecting a hero's welcome but he's been away far longer than he realises and everything has changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Company of the Dark

He returned home if not exactly expecting a hero's welcome then at least a welcome of sorts. He found the Hub in near darkness lit only by some solitary desk lamps and a few pieces of equipment Toshiko had not yet switched off. A stray thought wondered what magnitude of carbon footprint he was responsible for. _Save the human race and damn the planet…_

Memory had stamped the idea of space, warmth and comfort onto his reflections of working here. Like wearing someone else's clothes the place didn't quite fit his recollections. The vastness of the central area had shrunk down to a smaller usable area bounded by sluices, concrete staircases, blocks of technical equipment he should have been able to name but never quite got around to learning their functions. It was colder too than he expected; his breath steamed slightly in the air, small perfect motes of moisture dispersing over the inhuman angles of the machinery. _How many times had he stood in this very spot commanding his team into uncertain territory? To unknown dangers?_

"Ohayou gozai masu, Jack-san." A small figure detached itself from the gloom and walked over to a pool of light cast by a distant lamp. It was wearing a white lab coat that had seen better days; a spider's web of stains marred the lower part of the cloth. The occupant, however, looked acceptably clean. The whites of its eyes shone disconcertingly in the crepuscular atmosphere.

He grinned and bowed from the waist in an exaggerated movement. "Oai-deki-te ureshii-desu?" In response to the air currents caused by his overcoat a thin wisp curled up from the ground, turning in on itself before silently falling back like a djinn returning to its bottle, every unspoken wish spent.

Toshiko gave a small, tentative smile before returning her concentration to the screen. "Good trip?"

A sigh full of wonder: "I've sang songs at the end of the universe, gone beyond the boundaries of time. I've seen events no human eye has witnessed before." His eyes glittered in the twilight. "Oh Tosh. I've been chased by creatures that looked like men and talked with creatures more human than humans." He grabbed her hands and pulled her towards him. "Dance with me." He shuffled his feet creating worm trails in the dust.

She made a few faltering steps then shook her head. A thin strand of hair fell free to be pushed back into place with a strong hand. "Still the same old Jack Harkness I see."

"I never change." _Apart from a few grey hairs._

"No," Toshiko whispered half to herself. "You never do." She pulled away from his grasp firmly but insistently. "You've been gone a long time Jack."

He glanced around and noticed for the first time the dust. What little footsteps broke the surface were small enough to belong to Toshiko alone. "How long?" Almost too afraid to ask.

"Seven hundred and thirty one days." She backed away as if he was suddenly contagious.

 _Over two years_. Suddenly his throat was dry. "I guess the Tardis overshot the platform." The attempt at a joke raised little response. "Where—?"

"We just drifted apart." She started typing on her console. "No particular reason. We just didn't have a good enough excuse to stay together."

He pulled up a nearby chair letting the legs drag, creating dust trails like snakes over his earlier footprints. "You stayed."

Toshiko stared at him as if he'd accused her of a crime. "Poor Tosh. No social life, eh?"

"I didn't mean it that way."

"No. You never do. That's half the problem." She looked up at the empty rafters as if for inspiration or courage. "Someone had to tidy up the loose ends." _Someone reliable. Someone_ sensible _._

"Myfanwy?" Jack asked, mistaking her focus for something else.

"In cryo. There was no one left to feed her. And we couldn't bring ourselves to put her down." They stood there not looking at each other for a long time, Jack with his hands still on the back of the chair and Tosh hovering over the computer as if it were a lectern and she a minister about to preach to the congregation. "Gwen went back to the Police, of course."

 _Of course_. Jack shrugged. "I hope she's happy there." He didn’t know what else to say.

"No Jack. She's not happy." She had never once called him Captain since his return. _Were both now equals?_ "Owen chased after her and had a confrontation with Rhys." Understating the facts again. "She walked out on them both. But she's been lonely and miserable ever since. Too stubborn to bend with the wind."

"Owen?"

"BUPA. Somewhere north of Manchester." A touch of disapproval came into the voice. "Last I heard he was being investigated for professional misconduct with a patient."

"And Ianto?" _Dear Ianto._ His hands reflexively tightened on the back of the chair, knuckles whitening his tanned skin.

She reached out and switched off the terminal. The whir of the fan slowly subsided into silence. A pair of brown eyes looked so sadly at him that his heart leapt into his mouth. "He tried very hard to be positive at first. So very hard. But in the end he had no strength to wait any longer." She touched him on the shoulder as she headed towards the stairs. "I'm sorry Jack," she said without looking back. It was the last thing he ever heard her say.

Later he gathered his courage and climbed up the stairs to his office. Beneath a thin layer of dust there was a letter addressed with a simple 'J' in blue ink. He brushed the surface clean with a gentle sweep of his hands. At some stage it had been hurriedly opened. The contents didn't add anything extra to what Toshiko had already said. _Don't be angry with me_ , Ianto had written, _I'm not as strong as you_.

"You couldn't wait," Jack said to himself, hands trembling on the paper. "You couldn't wait." The finality of the words shook something within him, broke the dam that held back tears. _Perhaps Gwen would tell him where he could place flowers._


End file.
